Spring Trial (MCC)

Many thanks to Simon Woodall, Martyn Halliday, and Arthur Vowden for providing most of the information on this page.

History

In October 2007 Simon Woodall sent me the Results for the 1980 event, with these comments:

This is a little scrap of forgotten MCC history. The Spring Trial ran for two years, 1980 and 1981. The Clerk of Course was Martin Halliday, who was then MCC General Secretary, and is now campaigning a Fiat Panda in Class O. [… and who has since bought Troll T6e/12. AKB.] The start was at a Café on the A25 north of Guildford, the Finish in Biggin Hill, just yards away from the last hill. It was a cars-only event, it being judged too difficult politically to include bikes. [Bikes were invited in 1981. AKB.] The “hill of the trial” was Westcott (see photograph on the MG page), which was long, muddy, and approached over an unmanned level crossing. On the first year the specials were OK, but in 1981 it rained, and Westcott defeated the entire field. You’ll recognise quite a few of the names but I was amused to note that the All Wheel Drive Club award for “most difficult recovery” went to Tom Threlfall, presumably in his Model A Ford.

Shortly afterwards, Martyn Halliday sent me the documentation for the 1981 event with his comments:

At last I have found the paperwork for the old MCC Spring Trial. The comment on the bottom of the results saying this was the last time the event would be run was mainly due to the difficulty getting people to help. I was General Secretary, working full time, and had just purchased a wreck of a cottage that we had to renovate so there was no time. Still, running the trial though the “stockbroker” belt of Surrey without a single complaint gave me satisfaction.

… and finally I received some notes from Arthur Vowden:

Duncan (Welch) wrote a report of the 1980 event which appeared in Triple issue no.18, October 1980. There are also some reports of the 1981 event in Triple issue no.21, October 1981.